Channel impairments in transmission systems result in signal degradation and thus limit the carrying capacity of these systems. In optical transmission systems, some of these impairments are linear (e.g., fiber chromatic dispersion or CD) and some are non-linear (e.g., cross-phase modulation and four-wave mixing caused by the Kerr effect). To minimize the effect of impairments, transmission systems may include various types of compensation systems or devices. A signal can be modified before, or as part of, transmission to account for the effect of impairment (a technique known as pre-compensation). Conversely, knowledge about an impairment can be used to modify a received signal to compensate for the impairment (a technique known as post-compensation). Such compensation systems or devices can be implemented in the optical domain or in the electrical/electronic domain, or in both domains at the same time.